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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
State seeks public input on health care
W
hat should health care in
Oregon look like?
The state’s top health offi-
cial is traveling the state, asking that
question at 10 public meetings. The
responses will help shape health care for
about one-fourth of Oregonians, those
who are on the state Medicaid pro-
gram known as the Oregon Health Plan.
Many of those clients work at low-wage
jobs that lack health insurance.
However, the question matters to
all Oregonians. The answers will help
determine how our state and federal tax
dollars will be used and, over time, how
private health care will adapt and mir-
ror the innovations in the Oregon Health
Plan. Such practices as developmental
screenings for children can become the
statewide norm when instituted for the
health plan, according to Patrick Allen,
director of the Oregon Health Authority.
Allen has substantially improved the
management, responsiveness and trans-
parency of the state health agency since
taking charge last year. Now he is on the
road to hear from Oregonians before his
agency takes its next steps in transform-
ing health care.
In 2012, Oregon took a bold step to
improve health care and control costs.
Coordinated care organizations —
now commonly referred to as CCOs —
IF YOU GO
A public meeting in Astoria is scheduled
for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 27 at the Asto-
ria Armory, 1636 Exchange St. Meetings
also are set for Bend, Coos Bay, Corvallis,
Hermiston, Hood River, Klamath Falls,
Ontario, Portland and Springfield.
ON THE WEB
Provide feedback on direction
of the Oregon Health Plan:
bit.ly/future-of-coordinated-care
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Family nurse practitioner Terrance James examines Kamiyan Cooper, 1, as his mother Ke-
sha Wilson looks on, in 2012 at Multnomah County’s Mid County Health Center in Portland.
were established throughout the state to
ensure that physical, mental and dental
health care worked together for people
on the Oregon Health Plan.
CCOs are to health care what a
high-quality, lifetime bumper-to-bumper
warranty is to auto maintenance.
Traditional health care is fee-for-ser-
vice. Hospitals, physicians and other
providers get paid according to the
scope of care provided. (Fees can vary
widely based on government programs,
private insurance or out-of-pocket
payments).
In contrast, CCOs receive a set
amount of government money each
month for Oregon Health Plan clients.
The CCOs are responsible for all the
patients’ care regardless of cost. Their
financial incentive is to keep the patients
healthy, thereby saving money — an
incentive that can broaden how health
o blame the Democratic Party for the trag-
edy that is taking place in Texas of chil-
dren (as young as infants) being separated
from their parents, warehoused in closed
storefronts and contained in cages while the
Republican Party controls the House, Senate
and presidency is simply naive.
Surprise! The Republicans have the win-
ning vote with or without Democratic support
— why aren’t they able to work within their
own party to draft legislation and not shift
blame for their inabilities? It seems like the
dog ate their homework.
For the love of God — let’s think about the
children, regardless of what their parents have
done.
JAMES B. RANDALL
Astoria
fleeing persecution in their home countries are
being imprisoned as criminals at the federal
prison in Sheridan, with some number hav-
ing had their families ripped away from them.
Why are we treating asylum seekers as crim-
inals in violation of international treaties and
laws?
I thank Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden
and Reps. Suzanne Bonamici and Earl Blume-
nauer for shining a bright light on this abhor-
rent President Donald Trump/Jeff Sessions
policy. In past six weeks 2,000 children have
been torn away from their parents at the direc-
tion of Trump and Sessions.
This is being done in our name. This is
unconscionable. Traumatizing innocent chil-
dren and criminalizing asylum seekers does
not make America Great Again, now or ever.
America must be better than this. It’s up to all
of us to say “no more.” It’s up to all of us to
vote them out.
BEBE MICHEL
Gearhart
It’s up to us to say ‘no more’
We still need Mr. Rogers
I
A
we look like on the outside, no matter what
color our skin is, what sex we are, or what
physical disabilities we may have, everyone is
special and deserves to be loved. In our nation
so polarized, we need to heed that message
more than ever.
The quietly radical model and mentor Fred
Rogers (1928-2003) created 895 episodes of
“Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” (1968-2001),
constantly raising the bar on how children
and adults should behave. An elderly, cool
nerd who loved children, Fred was in every
way the real McCoy, a genuinely warm pres-
ence who spoke to children as if they were
sitting on his knee, gaining permission to
pretend.
Fred’s simple messages, delivered consis-
tently and with unwavering honesty, helped
children cope with life’s issues, addressing
anger, failure, disappointment, divorce, death
— and even the live birth of a kitten in a 1986
episode. Yes, Fred Rogers was the genuine
article, displaying vulnerability, openness and
willingness to learn.
And that endeared him to children and
adults.
Let’s heed his wise counsel.
ROBERT BRAKE
Ocean Park, Washington
care is delivered.
For example, consider a person with
high blood pressure who forgets to
take his medications and thus repeat-
edly winds up in the hospital emer-
gency room. It makes more sense
— financially, socially and psycholog-
ically — for a nurse to call or visit the
patient each day to ensure he takes his
medication.
Research indicates Oregon’s CCO
model is effective but imperfect. Mental
and dental health care are not as well-in-
tegrated into the holistic approach.
CCOs have saved the state money, but
health-care costs continue to grow faster
than the overall economy.
State officials have dozens of ideas
for improvement. But they want, and
need, to hear what the public thinks.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Proposed hotel is
too tall, needs parking
he proposed four-story Fairfield Hotel
with 66 guest rooms will be before the
Astoria Design Review Committee (DRC) on
Monday at 5 p.m. in the Astoria City Council
chambers.
It is proposed for Second Street along the
Riverwalk where the Ship Inn and Stephanie’s
Cabin are currently, and are planned to be
repurposed. New projects must be required to
provide the necessary parking for its intended
users, as well as its employees. This has not
been required for this project. To meet those
needs, they must lease parking space at the
empty lot east of Second Street.
You can email planner Nancy Ferber (nfer-
ber@astoria.or.us) before Monday’s meet-
ing to let the DRC know your thoughts. The
Bridge Vista Overlay Zone permits this type
of use and up to 30,000 square feet. This pro-
posed hotel is planned for 29,782 square feet,
but their covered parking space and decks/bal-
conies are not included in the total. The max-
imum height permitted is 45 feet, but it is
being recommended to allow different parts of
the structure to exceed this “limit.”
The problems of needing to exceed the
height limit and the lack of on-site parking
could be resolved by not allowing a structure
with four stories and 66 rooms.
The Astoria Historic Landmarks Commis-
sion will hold their meeting on the project the
same evening, starting at 7:30 p.m., also at
City Hall. This river area is designated a land-
marked site, because of the pilings, boiler
remaining from the Whitestar Cannery, and
the ballast rocks.
GEORGE (MICK) HAGUE
Astoria
T
Think about the children
T
mmoral. Unacceptable. Un-American. Sep-
arating children from parents seeking asy-
lum at our border is horribly wrong, heartless
and harmful. And it isn’t just happening at our
nation’s border. This is happening right here
in Oregon.
One hundred twenty-three people from
China, India, Mexico, Honduras and Nepal
ll that raucous rhetoric and brutish behav-
ior regarding immigration distresses me.
So I’m urging others to take a new look at
the life and legacy of the late Fred Rogers. I
think it’s high time all of us did — because
Mr. Rogers’ message was so simple and
compelling.
Fred Rogers believed that no matter what
Instinct vs. intellect
F
rom time to time, someone writes to
praise President Donald Trump for his
anti-abortion righteousness. I must remind
them that Trump was, previous to this last
election, pro-choice, and he changed his
stance for votes. It’s hard to know if Trump
actually has any values other than money, sex
and power.
There are three major instincts imprinted
in human DNA: Self-preservation (fight or
flight), protection of offspring, and species
survival. It is the last two instincts that moti-
vate anti-abortion thought.
The last instinct has worked too well, as
we have 7.4 billion people on an earth that
can support only 2.5 billion. The Global
Footprint Network calculates that the rate
humans demand food, fiber, and carbon diox-
ide absorption now needs 1.7 earths to meet
that demand.
We can continue to wipe out other species
in our instinctive quest to cover the earth with
people, or we could make birth control avail-
able to everyone, thereby reducing abortion.
Managing our demographics would in time
reduce poverty, disease and warfare; end the
need for immigration; and heal the planet of
pollution and degradation.
Democracy is imperfect. We have proof
in a president who is a sexual predator, a rac-
ist, a pathological liar, a divider of a nation’s
people, a man who alienates our allies and
praises our enemies, a man who puts himself
before his nation.
DAVID FITCH
Astoria